My dad and cousins always like to remind me that I’m some distant relative of Will Rogers. I think like fourth cousins or something.

He died two years before my dad was born, so it’s not like we have family picnics or anything.

But he and I do share a political view or two, including this gem of a Will Rogers quote:

“The more you read and observe about this politics thing, you got to admit that each party is worse than the other. The one that's out always looks the best.”

George Washington was considered by no one to be any kind of political visionary, least of all himself. But one of his most famous prognostications was stunningly prophetic.

He said political parties “serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and extraordinary force; to put, in the place of the delegated will of the nation the will of a party.”

On most issues, I am a flaming liberal. I believe in universal health care. I believe in ending the death penalty until we can be 100 percent certain that every executed person was actually guilty — and even then I favor life imprisonment to death. I believe in legalizing marijuana and prostitution on the theory that keeping them illegal empowers thugs and makes victims and criminals of non-violent people.

However, I also believe in the fundamental right of American citizens to bear arms. I believe in a strong national defense. I believe in a small and limited federal government.

I would characterize my political affiliation as a Jeffersonian Democrat, only because I can’t go along with Democrats on everything they stand for.

But I also can’t go along with Republicans on everything. Giving tons and tons of taxpayers’ hard-earned money to big fat cats who have already demonstrated they don’t know how to handle other people’s money is Socialism just the same as redistributing wealth from the rich to the poor is.

Dwight D. Eisenhower’s warning that we shouldn’t allow the military/industrial complex free reign over our government went unheeded as military contractor operations are now spread over almost every Congressional district, ensuring that no military project can ever be killed without a politician risking losing the next election.

Every president since Eisenhower has found a reason to put our troops in harm’s way while blowing up expensive weapons that get replaced by filthy rich contractors who grease the wheels of government with their huge wads of cash.

I said all that to say this: neither party is right. And the fact that we’re limited to two political parties is one of the greatest tragedies of American history, one that already has come back to bite us.

Those who saw Barack Obama as the savior of the American left didn’t count on a do-nothing Congress. Those who saw George W. Bush as the shining beacon of the right didn’t count on him falling short of their expectations either.

Political parties have divided us as a means to their own survival, painting every issue in black-and-white so we don’t have to think too much and we’ll just agree with them and vote their way.

Believe it or not, most Republicans and Democrats agree on more issues than we disagree on. Those issues we disagree on should be the topics of reasoned and measured debate, not screaming talking heads on TV and paid shills on talk radio.

But they make money and continue to afford their giant paychecks by ensuring that we don’t have rational discussions.

They lull us into automatically dismissing those we disagree with so we don’t actually listen to anything they have to say that might persuade us to reconsider our own positions.

That closed-mindedness on both sides hurts our nation and its prospects for the future. It appeals to the lowest common denominator, and in doing so, it actually dumbs us down to where we embody that basest level of political discourse.

America’s two-party system is our greatest shame, and while it persists, we will always find ourselves bickering and calling each other names instead of trying to actually work together to build on the areas where we agree.



Reach Leif Wright at 918-684-2906 or Click Here to Send Email